'Roe' Baby Identifies Herself After 51 Years of Anonymity - Mediaite She was 2 years old by the time the Roe v. Wade ruling came down and living with her adoptive parents in Texas, and her existence itself became a symbol to anti-abortion activists. Shelley Lynn Thornton, the biological daughter of Norma McCorvey -- the woman behind the Roe v. Wade abortion case -- issued a statement to ABC News on Monday following the Supreme Court's . Shelley Lynn Thornton, now 51, revealed herself as the so-called "Roe baby" in The Atlantic, which published an excerpt from an upcoming book about her, her birth mother, her half-sisters and. So, yeah, Im 100% behind her.. Shelley Lynn Thornton, now 51, revealed herself as the so-called Roe baby in The Atlantic, which published an excerpt from an upcoming book about her, her birth mother, her half-sisters and the ways their lives unfolded after the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade in 1973. I would go, Somebody has to know! Shelley told me. Biological daughter of 'Jane Roe' torches Court for its overturn of the In 1960, at the age of 17, she married a military man from her hometown, and the couple moved to an Air Force base in Texas. Shelley Lynn Thornton, 51, the woman whose conception led to the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion case, has revealed herself publicly for the first time as the "Roe baby.". The reporters told Thornton they would reveal the identity of her biological mother at a restaurant in Seattles Space Needle. She told Shelley that shed given her up because, Shelley recalled, I knew I couldnt take care of you. She also told Shelley that she had wondered about her always. Shelley listened to Normas words and her smokers voice. The news sent shock waves throughout Washington D.C. with Democrats vowing to codify the legal right to an abortion into law and Republicans celebrating the news. In the decade since Norma had been thrust upon her, Shelley recalled, Norma and Roe had been always there. Unknowing friends on both sides of the abortion issue would invite Shelley to rallies. We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. She knew only, she explained, that she wanted to one day find a partner who would stay with her always. Life Shelley Lynn Thornton was born to Norma McCorvey on June 2, 1970, at the Dallas Osteopathic Hospital. Billy and Ruth fought. In the event that she didnt already know that Norma McCorvey was her birth mother, a phone call could have upended her life. [3] Thornton met her biological half-sisters, McCorvey's two other daughters, in March 2013. In April 1989, Norma McCorvey attended an abortion-rights march in Washington, D.C. She had revealed her identity as Jane Roe days after the Roe decision, in 1973, but almost a decade elapsed before she began to commit herself to the pro-choice movement. Shelley Lynn Thornton (born June 2, 1970) is the biological daughter of Norma McCorvey. Though the Supreme Court ultimately decided three years after she filed her lawsuit that all women should have access to legal abortions, McCorvey had already been forced to carry her pregnancy to term, had given birth to Thornton and had let another family adopt her newborn. Shelley Shannon - Wikipedia That was fine by her. There isn't much info so far, but apparently more Shelley Lynn Thornton, 51, has revealed herself as the youngest daughter born to Norma McCorvey, whose lawsuit under the pseudonym "Jane Roe" led to the Supreme Court's 1973 ruling that. She nearly met her birth mother in 1994; according to Thornton, McCorvey told her on the phone that she should have thanked her for not having an abortion. resigns from Google and says he regets Pictured: British grandfather and 'friend to everybody' who died while snorkelling during dream cruise Baby in India is born with a third ARM growing from its back in rare phenomenon. When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. The answers Shelley had sought all her life were suddenly at hand. The Roe Baby Identified?! : prolife McCluskey had introduced Norma to the attorney who initially filed the Roe lawsuit and who had been seeking a plaintiff. Her first child was the only one of her three children who was a part of her mother's life. She went with her adoptive mother, Ruth. Fitz had been born into medicine. One year later, her birth mother started to look for her. However, pro-lifers contended it was tantamount to murder and that every life, no matter how it was conceived, is precious. Victims of rape or incest would be able to have the pregnancy terminated and not feel coerced into motherhood. They explained that the tabloid had recently found the child Roseanne Barr had relinquished for adoption as a teenager, and that the pair had reunited. She was 20. Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff in Roe v. Wade, never had the abortion she was seeking. She set everything else aside and worked in secrecy. At some level, Norma seemed to understand Shelleys caution, her bitterness. Before Shelley, Norma McCorvey had two other daughters who she put up for adoption. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Thornton spent the first 19 years of her life without knowing McCorvey was her birth mother. McCorvey formed her own group, Roe No More Ministry, in 1997 and traveled around the U.S. speaking out against abortion. But to remain anonymous would ensure, as her lawyer put it, that the race was on for whoever could get to Shelley first. Ruth felt for her daughter. It was a game. Thornton was already born and was living with an adoptive family by the time the decision was reached. We have lived in times of uncertainty and insecurity before, but to have such a fundamental right taken away and this ruling be overturned concerns me of what lies ahead."[6][7]. Norma had come to call Roe my law. And, in time, Shelley too became almost possessive of Roe; it was her conception, after all, that had given rise to it. ", In the National Enquirer article, she was described as pro-life, which had bothered her because, as she told Prager, she had told the reporter "that she couldnt see herself having an abortion. BREAKING:Treasury Department says U.S. could hit debt ceiling as soon as June 1, sooner than expected. she thought. Thornton did not learn her mothers true identity until she was 19 years old, when she says she was tricked by reporters from the National Enquirer. The brother introduced the couple to Henry McCluskey. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Norma won her case. Shelley Lynn Thornton Speaks Out in First TV Interview She bore three children, each of them placed for adoption. Facebook gives people the power to. We've received your submission. She never did anything in her life to get that privilege back. McCorvey had given up two baby daughters already and did not want to have a third child. Shelley Lynn Thornton (McCorvey) - Genealogy Shelley was now seeing a man from Albuquerque named Doug. Roe baby Shelley Lynn Thornton comes forward decades after Roe v. Wade Shelley Lynn Thornton, now a 51-year-old woman, revealed her name and spoke to the press on-the-record for the first time in an excerpt of the upcoming book "The Family Roe: An American. I wondered too if he or she might wish to speak about it. ABC Thornton said prior to learning who her mother was,. She began to look hard and long at every girl in every park. And yet for all its prominence, the person most profoundly connected to it has remained unknown: the child whose conception occasioned the lawsuit. Shelley Lynn Thornton, the woman whose very conception sparked one of the Supreme Court's most significant legal rulings in U.S. history, is telling her story and making it clear she won't . Mindful of her adoption, she wished to know who had brought her into being: her heart-shaped face and blue eyes, her shyness and penchant for pink, her frequent anxietywhich gripped her when her father began to drink heavily. Two years after the Enquirer article and as an unmarried 20-year-old, Thornton discovered she was pregnant. After decades of keeping her identity a secret, Jane Roes child has chosen to talk about her life. Hanft normally telephoned the adoptees she found. She finally offered, she told me, that she couldnt see herself having an abortion. As a teenager, she said her biggest concerns were "shoes and boys." She had no reason to think much beyond herself, until reporters at the National Enquirer revealed her birth identity to her. She decided to have the child, but didn't understand why the abortion decision should be "a government concern. This story has been shared 411,273 times. Hanft, though, attested in writing that, to the contrary, she had started looking for Shelley in conjunction [with] and with permission from Ms. McCorvey. The tabloid had a written record of Normas gratitude. ', Thornton said she was unhappy with this description because she regarded pro-life as'a bunch of religious fanatics going around and doing protests. I did not call Shelley. When she found herself with an unplanned pregnancy in 1991, Thornton began to think more deeply about the issue. SCOTUS is set to OVERTURN Roe v Wade according to leaked 'Baby Roe' says her biological mom Norma McCorvey 'didn't have passed various abortion restrictions in defiance of the Roe precedent in recent years. Kathy Hochul told rally-goers in the state capital. It was a game. Normas personal life was complex. She liked attention and got it. This was the one thing we were not allowed to help with, Jonah said. Mother and daughter had a cold reunion, Jonah Hanft told me. That same year, Ruth met Billy, the brother of another wife on the base. [2] Thornton also learned about her two older half-sisters from McCorvey, Melissa and Jennifer. Of those, 22 states already have total or near-total bans on the books that are currently blocked by Roe, aside from Texas. But then, she also didn't consider herself pro-choice. Roe's lawyers said she was unable to travel out of the state to obtain an abortion and argued that the law was too vague and infringed on her constitutional rights. British MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo 'was secretly battling bowel cancer' before he was found dead in a Top conservative think tank takes the Biden administration to court for Prince Harry's immigration records - Police hunt for Brixton killer after woman in her 30s is stabbed to death in broad daylight near O2 Academy. She wastwo-and-a-half when Roe v Wade was decided, Norma McCorvey (left) holds a pro-choice sign with former attorney Gloria Allred (right) in front of the US Supreme Court building on April 26, 1989. Im supposed to thank you for getting knocked up and then giving me away, Thornton recalled saying. Controversial NHS Tavistock transgender clinic is threatened with court action by watchdog after failing to 'If I didn't build it, somebody else would've': The Godfather of A.I. Shelley Lynn Thornton, 51, has come forward to reveal that she is the youngest daughter of McCorvey - the woman known as Jane Roe. Shelley Lynn Thornton is seen here during an exclusive interview with ABC News. [3] She reflected, "When someone's pregnant with a baby, and they don't want that baby, that person develops knowing they're not wanted. Norma had told her own story in two autobiographies, but she was an unreliable narrator. The notion of finally laying claim to Norma was empowering. The motion moved through the courts until it was ultimately denied by the Supreme Court in 2005. She already knew her two other daughters, but had only scant information about Thornton. Having begun work as a secretary at a law firm, she worried about the day when another someone would come calling and tell the worldagainst her willwho she was. [1][2], Shelley Lynn Thornton was born to Norma McCorvey on June 2, 1970, at the Dallas Osteopathic Hospital. She told her birth mother that she "would never, ever thank her for not aborting me". Its settled law in the nation., Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis via Getty Images. Over the coming decade, my interest would spread from that one child to Norma McCorveys other children, and from them to Norma herself, and to Roe v. Wade and the larger battle over abortion in America. Oh my God! Her depression deepened. In a statement to ABC News, Thornton indicated that she worries the Dobbs ruling could be an omen for future unrest. Jonah recalled the moment of his mothers discovery: Oh my God! But she slept far more often with women, and worked in lesbian bars. Her plan for a Roseanne-style reunion was coming apart. And as I discovered while writing a book about Roe, the childs identity had been known to just one personan attorney in Dallas named Henry McCluskey. Joe cast aside his own grandkid to protect his 'It's better than the noise and the dirt of London! Thornton is the daughter of Norma McCorvey, the woman originally identified in court documents by the pseudonym Jane Roe. Shelley Lynn Thornton, 51, the woman whose conception led to the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion case, has revealed herself publicly for the first time as the "Roe baby." Shelley Lynn. Among pro-choice campaigners, the decision was hailed as a victory which would mean fewer women would become seriously - or even fatally - ill from abortions carried out by unqualified or unlicensed practitioners. And she was not looking for her second child. Despite everything, Shelley sometimes entertained the hope of a relationship with Norma. Today Show - Shelley Lynn Thornton, 51, the daughter of | Facebook McCorvey, who died in 2017, joined the abortion rights movement in the 1980s, saying she hoped to find the child she had put up for adoption, but then things got sticky. HuffPost's top politics stories, straight to your inbox. She simply continued on. Shelley now saw that she carried a great secret. The National Right to Life Committee seized upon the story. Shelley felt herself flush, and turned Lavin away. The Courts decision alluded only obliquely to the existence of Normas baby: In his majority opinion, Justice Harry Blackmun noted that a pregnancy will come to term before the usual appellate process is complete. The pro-life community saw the unknown child as the living incarnation of its argument against abortion. Shelly Thornton is 49 years old and was born on 03/10/1973. 'Nazi gold' turns out to be a WW2 bullet and a pair of muddy boots: Hunt for lost loot hidden in Dutch 'I'm no deadbeat dad!' She struggled to see where her birth mother ended and she herself began. Ruth turned to a lawyer, a friend of a friend. I dont really talk about that just because Im not going to let either side use me for their advantage, she said, adding that activists can find someone else.. She had occasional affairs with men and a brief marriage at age 16. Of course, the child had a real name too. In 1988, Shelley graduated from Highline High and enrolled in secretarial school. I'm not the one who createdthis movement. As the kids grew up, and began to resemble her and Doug in so many ways, Shelley found herself ever more mindful of whom she herself sometimes resembledmindful of where, perhaps, her anxiety and sadness and temper came from. Jane Roe's Baby Tells Her Story - The Atlantic Shelley wanted no part of this. And after keeping her identity secret for more than 50 years, Shelley Lynn Thornton has come to terms with her identity, saying in her first on-camera interview that the ruling has nothing to do with me.. I am never going to be able to get away from this! The lawyer sent another strong letter. PRAGER: So her name is Shelley Lynn Thornton. In a television studio in Manhattan, the Today host Jane Pauley asked Norma why she had decided to look for her. Following the ruling, McCorvey lived a quiet life until the 1980s when she revealed herself to be Jane Roe. As a teenager, she said her biggest concerns were "shoes and boys." After years of keeping her secret and worrying that someone else would publicly share her story, she decided to share it herself. Supreme Court abortion ruling updates: Americans can get abortions in She shook when she felt anxious, and she felt anxious, she said, about everything. She was soon suffering symptoms of depression toofeeling, she said, sleepy and sad. But she confided in no one, not her boyfriend and not her mother. Shelley Thornton: Daughter of 'Jane Roe' from landmark abortion case She had casual affairs with men, and one brief marriage at age 16. Filing a complaint alongside her was Texas doctor James Hallford, who argued the law's medical provision was vague and that he was unable to reliably determine which of his patients fell into the allowed category. Although McCorvey had sought an abortion, she was prohibited from doing so by the laws in Texas at that time. McCorvey was initially pro-choice, then switched to an anti-abortion stance following a religious conversion, and then revealed in a stunning deathbed confession in a documentary that she was paid exorbitant money by a religious organization to pose as an anti-abortion activist even though she didn't believe in that view. McCluskey had told Ruth and Billy that Shelley had two half sisters. Twenty-six states are certain or likely to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned, according to the pro-abortion rights think tank the Guttmacher Institute. The excerpt from the book, The Family Roe by Joshua Prager, explores how Thornton came to discover she was the so-called Roe baby, her fraught relationship with McCorvey and her frustration with the anti-abortion movement using her existence to bolster its cause. She gave her up for adoption the day after giving birth, then continued fighting for the right to abortion afterwards. you know, the pro-life . Shelley Lynn Thornton - EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki I was just a pawn, and I wasn't going to let her do it. 'I took their money and they took me out in front of the cameras and told me what to say. Thornton began "shaking all over and crying" when learning the difficult truth that she was the child of the plaintiff in the famous case. Having idly mused as a girl that her birth mother was a beautiful actor, she now knew that her birth mother was synonymous with abortion. Secrets and lies are, like, the two worst things in the whole world, she said. McCluskey, the adoption lawyer, was dead, but Norma herself provided Hanft with enough information to start her search: the gender of the child, along with her date and place of birth. She had recently happened upon Holly Hunter playing Jane Roe in a TV movie. Shelley Lynn Thornton has come forward after decades of secrecy to publicly identify herself as the "Roe baby" in the new book "The Family Roe: An American Story" by Joshua Prager, which will be released on Sept. 14 and was excerpted in The Atlantic on Thursday. Decades after her father left home, it would occur to Shelley that the genesis of her unease preceded his disappearance. Daughter of 'Jane Roe' on her identity, why she never wanted - YouTube A short time later, she underwent another religious conversion and became a Roman Catholic and left Operation Rescue. Billy Thornton was a lapsed Baptist from small-town Texastall and slim with tar-black hair and, as he put it, a deadbeat, thin, narrow mustache that had helped him buy alcohol since he was 15. The landmark ruling saw abortions decriminalized in 46 states, but under certain specific conditions which individual states could decide on. King Charles' Coronation LIVE: The monarch's unexpected defender from Down Under, Beatrice and Eugenie in Dr Martin Scurr: Why have I always had a runny nose for 30 years - and what can I do to make it stop? She opened it to find a young woman who introduced herself as Audrey Lavin. Doug asked her to give up her career and stay at home. She told them she didnt even know what that meant before Ruth was able to escort away from the media barrage. The person known as the Roe baby, referred to as such because of her birth mothers role in the landmark case protecting abortion, allowed herself to be publicly identified for the first time Thursday. McCorvey is pictured in July 2011. The family moved, and then moved again and again. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy. At three days old, she was adopted by Ruth Schmidt of Texas and her soon-to-be husband Billy Thornton. Roe was 'Jane Roe,' a pseudonym for Norma McCorvey, a single mother pregnant for the third time, who wanted an abortion. Lavin told Shelley that she would do nothing without her consent. When Shelley was 5, she decided that her birth parents were most likely Elvis Presley and the actor Ann-Margret. The publication had thendescribed her as pro-life because she had told the journalist 'she couldn't see herself having an abortion. Ruth had grown up in a devoutly Lutheran home in Minnesota, one of nine children. And, she reflected, I guess I dont understand why its a government concern. It had upset her that the Enquirer had described her as pro-life, a term that connoted, in her mind, a bunch of religious fanatics going around and doing protests. But neither did she embrace the term pro-choice: Norma was pro-choice, and it seemed to Shelley that to have an abortion would render her no different than Norma.
